ALBERT LEA, Minn. and AUSTIN, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees has named Bobbie Gostout, M.D., vice president, Mayo Clinic. The announcement was made at the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees quarterly meeting.

Dr. Gostout will be the physician leader for Mayo’s community practice in the Midwest, including Mayo Clinic Health System in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin and Mayo Clinic’s Minnesota-based community care locations.

She succeeds Rob Nesse, M.D., who, in July, became Mayo’s first senior medical director of Payment Reform, and Brian Whited, M.D., who has served since that time as interim physician leader. In her new role, Dr. Gostout, along with her administrative partner, Mark Koch, will lead the integration of Mayo’s specialty and community care practices in the Midwest, and guide the implementation of all aspects of Mayo’s strategic and operating plans.

Dr. Gostout will transition into her new role through the end of 2015. This will ensure a smooth leadership transition for Mayo’s community practice in the Midwest and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Rochester, Minnesota, where she has been department chair since 2007.

"Dr. Gostout has a passion for our local communities and recognizes the mutual reliance between our community practices and destination medical centers,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic. “She has demonstrated her skill in guiding the integration of clinical practices and is gifted in bringing groups together to work through tough issues and solve problems. This made her an ideal choice to lead our important work within Mayo’s community practice in the Midwest.”

Dr. Gostout has been on the Rochester staff for nearly 20 years. In addition to her roles as physician and chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, she is a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and has served in various leadership roles at Mayo Clinic, including vice chair of the Rochester Personnel Committee and Rochester Clinical Practice Committee. Dr. Gostout is a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors and Board of Trustees. She is former president of the Western Association of Gynecologic Oncologists and a member of the former Mayo Clinic Health System Board of Directors.

“We deeply appreciate the important work Dr. Nesse has done to lead community care in the Midwest, and thanks is also due to Dr. Whited for his interim leadership,” says Dr. Noseworthy. “Ensuring patients have access to highly coordinated care helps us better support patients no matter their needs.”